George Burns turned up at rehearsals having learned the entire film script by heart. Burns figured that this would make it harder for the producers to fire him if they wanted to.
First feature film for George Burns for thirty-six years. Burns had not appeared in a movie since Honolulu (1939). This movie was considered Burns' comeback movie, the comeback being considered one of the most significant ever in Hollywood film history.
Based on the lives and careers of vaudeville comics Joe Smith and Charles Dale (né Sultzer and Marks). Unlike the characters in the Broadway play and later film, Smith and Dale were almost inseparable friends. In fact, when Dale died in 1971, Smith commissioned a single tombstone to be prepared for them both, ordering that the inscription read "Smith and Dale". The pair's strained relationship is based on another old-time vaudeville duo, Gallagher and Shean, the latter of whom was Groucho Marx's uncle.
Jack Benny was signed for the role of Al Lewis. Ill health forced Benny to back out of the project, due to being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Benny recommended his friend George Burns to replace him.
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